Smart.Monitor – SMART city indicators and MONITORing for smart city objectives – based on the example of the Smart City Vienna Framework Strategy

Status

Completed

Summary

Starting point / motivation

The global effects of climate change, the growth estimates for cities and urban regions, and the associated urbanization processes make it obvious that cities have to play a significant role in reducing the consumption of resources and the reduction of CO2 emissions. In answer to these challenges, the City of Vienna developed – under the guidance of the Municipal Department for Urban Development and Planning – the Smart City Wien Framework Strategy, which was adopted by the Vienna City Council on 25 June 2014. It is an umbrella strategy, a structure of reference, as well as a practical guide for the city's existing and future sectorial strategies, and defines objectives and a development path until 2050.

Based on the key goal of preserving resources through the use of technological and social innovation and, at the same time, maintaining a high quality of life, the Framework Strategy identifies four key areas dealing with the topic of resources (energy, mobility, infrastructure, buildings) as well as six other areas dealing with areas of urban life (education, research, technology and innovation (RTI), environment, health, economy, and social inclusion), which are directly or indirectly related to the topic of resources. An indicator and monitoring concept is an essential instrument for controlling the smart city targets and for decision-making in order to implement the Smart City Wien Framework Strategy.

Contents and goals

In order to measure the development of the City of Vienna towards a smart city, a simplified indicator and monitoring concept is needed, which can also serve as a reference for other Austrian cities. In legislative and administrative practice, there hasn't been any supportive and interdisciplinary monitoring system implemented yet, that considers the complexity of a smart city development.

Therefore the objective of the SMART.MONITOR project is to develop a monitoring concept that − in particular − includes indicators for the 51 targets of the Smart City Wien Framework Strategy and a detailed process description of the monitoring procedure. A smart city monitoring concept can only be successful if it provides a useful basis decision making in the administrative and political bodies, and if it is based on existing structures, data and strategies.

Methods

The methodological focus of this project was to link the research and the application level as well as the transmission level towards other cities. According to this aspect, the Municipal Department for Urban Development and Planning of the City of Vienna has initiated an informal discussion and exchange process on the topic of smart city governance with cities such as Graz, Salzburg, Munich, Berlin, and Hamburg, as well as with partners such as the Austrian Association of Cities and Towns. This process was continued and intensified during the project.

The results were developed in consultation with the users and the respective experts and the transferability of the results were tested continuously. With feedback loops between experts, steering committees of the city and the users of the monitoring system, the target of an application-oriented and transferable indicator and monitoring concept was assured. Additionally the project was accompanied by project management and process design, from the basic evaluation and research to the final dissemination.

Results

The result of the project is a practical, simplified indicator and monitoring concept for a smart city to be first applied in the City of Vienna based on the Smart City Wien Framework Strategy. After a testing, consultation and adaptation phase the monitoring system will be applied in the City of Vienna and will be executed for the first time in 2017. The results were discussed with the reference cities and recommendations for the development and implementation of a smart city monitoring in other cities were provided.

The monitoring system consists particularly of:

• An indicator concept for the 51 targets of the Smart City Wien Framework Strategy, which fulfills the European State of the Art, which was developed in consultation with the main users of the monitoring system and which is based on existing data and reports of the City of Vienna
• A process description for the monitoring procedure in accordance with the requirements of a monitoring system expressed by the main users and parties of the City of Vienna as well as its close organizations
• A communication concept, which contains recommendations for appropriate visualization and preparation activities to ensure targeted communication

Prospects/Suggestions for future research

The results of the project is the main basis for the development of the Smart City Wien Framework Strategy monitoring and its integration into the structures and proceedings of the City of Vienna. In May 2016, in parallel to the research project, the testing, consultation and adaptation phase had started – in order to be able to conduct the first monitoring procedure in 2017.

The research project also showed potentials and necessary next steps which shall be pursued in the future. For instance the project revealed the necessity for a more interdisciplinary, cross sectoral monitoring approach and the need for a monitoring on district, neighborhood and project level. Furthermore, the results of the first monitoring procedure shall provide input for a future adaptation and revision of the Smart City Wien Framework Strategy.

Project management

Municipal Department 18 – Urban Development and Planning

Project or cooperation partners

• Denkstatt GmbH

• AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH

• WWTF GmbH

• TINA VIENNA Urban Technologies and Strategies GmbH

Ms Ina Homeier
Rathausstr. 14-16
A-1082 Vienna
+43 (1) 4000 88781
E-mail: ina.homeier@wien.gv.at
Web: www.wien.gv.at/stadtentwicklung/projekte/smartcity/smart-monitor/index.html